Cassville teacher participating in Missouri S&T training

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Forste involved in Project Lead The Way program

Approximately 600 elementary, middle and high school teachers from around the U.S. are visiting Missouri University of Science and Technology to learn how to better teach engineering, computer science and biomedical science.

The teachers, one of whom is Cassville teacher Jake Forste, are involved in Project Lead The Way (PLTW), a national effort to get more youth interested in and prepared to study engineering and science related fields in college. Missouri S&T is the state affiliate for PLTW and offers teacher training in several science, technology and engineering fields.

Last year, Forste trained for intro to computer science 1 and 2, and this year, from July 24-28, he will train for medical detectives.

"The PLTW program is a very thorough training schedule that is hands-on," said David Hosick, program director for Missouri S&T's PLTW effort. "The courses are practically equivalent to having a full semester of professional development compacted into two weeks."

Teachers from throughout the United States are signed up to take part in one or more of the one- and two-week courses.

"They're learning how to incorporate a project- and problem-based teaching approach into their PLTW courses," says Hosick.

This summer, S&T is offering 16 two-week PLTW courses, eight one-week courses, eight three-day courses and two two-day courses. The training is focused on classroom instruction, hands-on projects and team activities. Missouri S&T is also offering administrator training to educate school leaders on how the training impacts their attending representatives.

The courses, which began in early June, will continue through early August. The majority of the courses will be held on the Missouri S&T campus, but those for elementary school teachers will be offered in other locations throughout the state.

PLTW is a national, non-profit organization that provides computer science, engineering and biomedical science instructional programs and teacher training for elementary, middle school and high school. Missouri S&T coordinates 610 PLTW programs in elementary and secondary education schools throughout the state.

In 2016-2017, more than 9,000 schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia offered PLTW programs, and more than 2 million students were enrolled in PLTW programs. Since it began in 1997, more than 40,000 teachers have been trained across the United States.

Missouri S&T is one of approximately 60 colleges and universities in the U.S. that offer PLTW training. For more information about PLTW, visit pltw.org.